In its complaint before the Department of Justice (DOJ), the BIR said Jeane Catherine Napoles acquired properties in 2011 and 2012, including a P54.7-million house in Los Angeles, California and a P1.5-million farm lot in Bayambang, Pangasinan, properties that went unreported because she did not file income tax returns (ITRs) for those years.

Napoles owed the government P31.4 million in 2011 and P680,000 in 2012, the bureau said.

It said it used the Expenditure Method in determining unreported income from the two properties. The method looked at the expenditure of the taxpayer, and compared the receipts from the recorded income and source of funds.

Under the amended Tax Code and BIR’s run after tax evaders (RATE) program, Napoles would be charged for “willful attempt to evade or defeat tax and deliberate failure to file return and pay tax for taxable years 2011 and 2012.”